


The Drunk Tank

by conceptstage



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-26
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-08-07 19:00:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16414070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/conceptstage/pseuds/conceptstage
Summary: Beau hits rock bottom.





	The Drunk Tank

“Alright,” the crownsguard said, huffing as he struggled to pull Beau along behind him. “Got another one for the drunk tank.” The crownsguard standing by the cell door yawned but sorted through his keys until he found the one that opened it. He grunted instead of speaking, barely able to hold his eyes open. The one pulling her tried to balance her on her feet long enough to lead her into the room. “Come on, you can lay down when you get in there.”

Beau fell face first into the concrete, her legs still hanging out the door. The guard groaned in annoyance and just folded her legs at the knees, shutting the door before they could fall back down. She looked up blearily but quickly shut her eyes again when the room started to move. She dry heaved but kept what little she’d eaten earlier in her stomach for once. She pushed herself up on her hands and knees and looked around.

There were three others in the drunk tank tonight and one half-orc man through the bars in the cell next door watching her like he wondered what her innards tasted like. She flipped him off and stumbled over to the nearest bench. The gnome sitting on the floor against the other wall looked up at her and smiled with two teeth left in his mouth. “Hey, cutie,” he said, then he hiccuped.

“Fuck off.” 

There was a young half-elf on the bench nearby, sobbing into her knees. “Oh, my mom is gonna kill me,” she whined.

Beau sighed, pulled out her waterskin and held it out to her. She looked at it suspiciously. Smart. Beau took a swig to show her it was okay and then handed it to her again. She took it that time, sniffing it once before downing it. “First time?” 

She nodded and wiped her mouth. “You?”

Beau took the water back and finished off the little that was left. “Hell no. Think this is…” Math was hard right now, but she counted slowly on her fingers. “Five for me. First one in a while though. I was doing so good.” She pulled out the wineskin and shook her head when the girl went to ask for it. “This is wine, it’ll make it worse.”

“Then why are you drinking it?”

“Because it can’t get worse for me.”

The cell was quiet for a while except for the muttering of the human man curled up in the corner. “You said,” the girl started a few minutes later. “... that you were doing good. Did you give up drinking?”

“Fuck no. I just cut back. I didn’t drink to get drunk anymore, I just did it socially when my friends did.”

“What happened?”

Beau didn’t answer, just drank the wine until it was gone and she couldn’t see anymore. At some point in the night the girl left with her mother and the gnome passed out. The man didn’t stop muttering but she was able to drown him out. The first sound that she heard in hours shocked her out of a stupor.

“The fuck you doing, Beau?”

“Is that… Molly?” she asked, blinking up at the vaguely purple shape in front of her.

The shape shifted but didn’t clear up. It could have been anyone, but that was Molly’s voice. “Beau, come on, your friends are worried about you.”

She shook her head and it felt like her skull was splitting open. “They’re gone. Caleb’s gone. He left a few nights ago. Nott chased after him and we lost her. Jester is mad at me because I could have stopped him and I didn’t, so now she and Fjord and Caduceus are searching for them without me. It’s been two days since I saw them. Yasha hasn’t been back since the coast. And you… you died. You’re dead. I’m alone again. I can’t be alone again, I can’t...”

Her eyes cleared a little and Molly was gone. It didn’t occur to her drunken mind that he had never been there in the first place. 

“Shut up,” hissed the muttering man. “I can’t hear them when you talk.”

Beau sighed. “Sorry,” she grunted, laying down on the bench and staring up at the ceiling. “Father always said I’d die alone in a jail cell. I guess he was right about me all along.” Part of her hoped everything would look better in the morning light. The rest of her knew the sun just made the shit easier to see.


End file.
